--- title: Mad Cow Disease: How the New Case Was Discovered description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. canonical: https://time.com/archive/7138700/mad-cow-disease-the-new-case-was-discovered-by-chance/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-04-25T20:00:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T10:29:31.977Z article:section: Health og:title: Mad Cow Disease: How the New Case Was Discovered og:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. og:url: https://time.com/archive/7138700/mad-cow-disease-the-new-case-was-discovered-by-chance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f4e7d2bc5d7894/698a939b16d884963ac44c7a/81712268.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5700 og:image:height: 3206 og:image:alt: 81712268 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mad Cow Disease: How the New Case Was Discovered twitter:description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f4e7d2bc5d7894/698a939b16d884963ac44c7a/81712268.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) # Mad Cow Disease: How the New Case Was Discovered > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Health Matters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Health Matters is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The latest health news and expert advice on living well. Health Matters makes the fast-moving world of health more useful, surprising and human, from the latest science and medical breakthroughs to practical ideas for living better. 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It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=eb09ba27-84bc-43b7-97f6-97490c249a53&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 25, 2012 8:00 PM UTC  Two cows Two cows Getty Images/Image Source—(c) Image Source by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 25, 2012 8:00 PM UTC Despite the panic that sent shockwaves through meat markets as far away as South Korea, the latest finding of mad cow disease announced Tuesday does not appear to pose a risk to the public. It is, however, the first new case of the disease in the U.S. since 2006, and was discovered almost entirely by chance. more [According to the ](http://www.newser.com/article/d9ubs3oo4/discovery-of-mad-cow-at-us-rendering-plant-was-due-to-luck-and-random-usda-testing.html)[_Associated Press_](http://www.newser.com/article/d9ubs3oo4/discovery-of-mad-cow-at-us-rendering-plant-was-due-to-luck-and-random-usda-testing.html)_,_ tests are done on only a small portion of the dead animals that are brought to the transfer facility in Hanford, California. The cow in question had died at one of the area’s hundreds of local dairies, but exhibited no typical outward signs of the disease, including unsteadiness, uncoordination, behavior change or low milk production. The dead cow was scheduled for USDA testing at random, eligible because it was recently deceased and at least 30 months of age when it came in April 18. (MORE: [Mad Cow Disease: Top 10 Panics!](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1896348%5F1896354%5F1895890,00.html)) Samples taken were sent to the University of California, which discovered that the cow could have had bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) (aka mad cow disease); a USDA lab in Iowa confirmed the results. Mad-cow disease causes a spongy deterioration in an animal’s brain and spinal cord; it can be passed on to humans through contaminated meat, and is deadly. Federal agricultural officials announced Tuesday that the cow had “atypical” BSE, which means it did not get the disease from eating infected cattle feed, John Clifford, the Agriculture Department’s chief veterinary officer told the Associated Press. It has not been determined whether the cow died of disease, or whether other cows in its herd are also infected. However, the [National Cattlemen’s Beef Association](http://www.beefusa.org/newsreleases1.aspx?NewsID=2458) said in a statement: --- > “” --- Although most international markets have heeded that reassurance, retailers in South Korea’s supermarket chains Home Plus and Lotte Mart [temporarily halted sales of U.S. beef](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/mad-cow-in-california-south-korea-halts-beef-imports.html) to calm anxieties among South Koreans. So what’s next? California and federal officials will investigate the case, starting with tests of other cows that lived in the same feeding herd. And as James Culler, director of the UC Davis dairy food safety laboratory said to the Associated Press, we may just have to wait a see. “It’s appropriate to be cautious, it’s appropriate to pay attention and it’s appropriate to ask questions, but now let’s watch and see what the researchers find out in the next couple of days.” MORE: [Government: New Case of Mad Cow Disease in California](http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/24/government-new-case-of-mad-cow-disease-in-california/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7138700/mad-cow-disease-the-new-case-was-discovered-by-chance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7138700/mad-cow-disease-the-new-case-was-discovered-by-chance/"},"headline":"Mad Cow Disease: How the New Case Was Discovered","datePublished":"2012-04-25T20:00:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T10:29:31.977Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/archive/7138700/mad-cow-disease-the-new-case-was-discovered-by-chance/","keywords":["California","animals","Dairy","health","Ban","farm","Science"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f4e7d2bc5d7894/698a939b16d884963ac44c7a/81712268.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f4e7d2bc5d7894/698a939b16d884963ac44c7a/81712268.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"81712268","caption":"81712268","creditText":"Getty Images/Image Source—(c) Image Source","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/7138700/mad-cow-disease-the-new-case-was-discovered-by-chance/","name":"Mad Cow Disease: How the New Case Was Discovered"}}]}] ```